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Whenever friends visit me in Toronto, I take one part of the itinerary very seriously: where we’re eating. I’m a food writer, after all, so choosing which Toronto restaurants are worth squeezing into a short trip feels like both a responsibility and a personal challenge.
There are only so many breakfasts, lunches and dinners in a weekend, and I refuse to waste one on somewhere you could essentially find in any other major city. If I’m showing someone Toronto’s food scene, I want the places that actually feel like Toronto — diverse, a little chaotic, occasionally trendy and, most importantly, genuinely worth eating at.
That means a mix of longtime Toronto institutions and newer restaurants shaping the Toronto food scene right now: dumplings in Chinatown, a peameal bacon sandwich at St. Lawrence Market, one of my favourite pizza slices in the city, buzzy King West dinners and a few places I’d happily build an entire night around.
So if you’re wondering where to eat in Toronto, consider this my starter food tour. These are the nine Toronto food spots I always want to take out-of-town friends to — and exactly why each one makes the cut.
La Baciata
Price: 💸
Cuisine: Italian sandwiches
Address: 2393 Yonge St., Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: Toronto is deep in its sandwich era, and if I’m showing an out-of-towner what that looks like, La Baciata is an easy pick.
The spot opened in June 2026, but the family behind it has been in the food business for decades. Enrico and Laura Dacasto got their start in Alba, Italy, in 1999 before eventually bringing Dacasto to Toronto, where they’ve become known for their Italian baked goods – particularly panettone.
At La Baciata, though, the star is the focaccia.
The name comes from the Italian word for “kissed,” referring to the way its 48-hour-fermented focaccia is folded while baking so the two sides of the bread “kiss.” Co-owner Laura starts baking the sourdough-based bread fresh at 5 a.m. each morning before it’s loaded with fillings like stracciatella, burrata, pesto, pistachio cream, chicken parm, meatballs and hot honey.
A lot of the ingredients are imported from Italy too, which, as an Italian Canadian, is exactly the kind of detail I’m looking for.
What I like most about La Baciata is that it feels very Toronto right now. It’s rooted in Italian tradition but taps straight into the city’s current obsession with big, over-the-top sandwiches. If I were building a food itinerary for someone visiting Toronto, this would be an easy lunch stop.
La Baciata Website
Bar Romy
Price: 💸💸💸
Cuisine: Italian
Address: 295 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: If you’re visiting Toronto around TIFF season, I’m absolutely dragging you into the Entertainment District at least once — and Bar Romy puts you right in the middle of the action.
The Italian restaurant opened this summer in the former Figo space, just steps from TIFF Lightbox, and it feels exactly right for this part of the city: lively, stylish and much more “let’s grab dinner and accidentally stay out until midnight” than special-occasion fine dining.
Bar Romy comes from INK Entertainment and shifts gears throughout the day, serving sandwiches at lunch before turning into a full-service dinner spot at night.
For me, though, the big draw is the pasta. Bar Romy serves pasta from Famiglia Baldassarre, giving Toronto diners another place to get their hands on it after the beloved pasta makers ended their regular lunch service.
There’s also pizza, cocktails, Italian wine and DJs later in the week, so it’s the kind of place where dinner can very easily turn into the rest of your night.
If I had a friend visiting Toronto who wanted somewhere buzzy and unmistakably downtown, this would be an easy recommendation.
Bar Romy Menu
Honey: More Than Chinese
Price: 💸💸💸
Cuisine: Pan-Asian/Chinese
Address: 600 King St W 3rd Floor, Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: One thing I’d want any visitor to understand about Toronto pretty quickly is just how wide-ranging its food scene is, and Honey is a fun place to get a taste of that.
Located inside Portland Square on King West, the restaurant has expanded beyond its original Chinese and Chinese-Canadian focus with a broader pan-Asian menu.
In one dinner, you can bounce from chicken pad Thai and drunken noodles to sesame shrimp toast, Sichuan lamb, bang bang shrimp and typhoon shelter prawns.
And the food is only half the experience.
Huge red lanterns hang overhead, the room is decked out in black marble and red velvet, the music is loud and the cocktails are flowing. Is it subtle? Absolutely not. It’s pure King West energy.
That’s exactly why I’d bring someone here. You get an over-the-top night out, a menu made for ordering far too much and sharing everything, and the kind of glamorous, slightly chaotic atmosphere this part of Toronto does best.
Honey: More Than Chinese Menu
Vinny
Price: 💸💸💸
Cuisine: Contemporary
Address: 480 King St W, Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: If you want the full big-city Toronto experience, I’m taking you to Vinny.
Part restaurant, part nightlife spot, this King West hangout is the kind of place where dinner can very easily turn into a much later night.
That energy hits another level during TIFF. Vinny has hosted festival parties attended by stars including Angelina Jolie, Sydney Sweeney, Andrew Scott and Charli XCX, and the red velvet rope outside certainly doesn’t hurt if you’re trying to give an out-of-towner a taste of Toronto’s celebrity-packed September chaos.
Even outside festival season, though, the place still feels distinctly downtown. You can order spicy vodka rigatoni or a burger while vinyl spins in the background, then stick around as the night gets livelier.
And I’m not letting anyone leave without using the photo booth. The black-and-white photo strip is basically your souvenir from the night.
If you’re still hungry later, there’s even a hot dog on the menu for one final late-night bite.
Vinny Menu
N.L. Ginzburg
Price: 💸💸💸💸
Cuisine: Italo-Jewish
Address: 548 College St, Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: When multiple Toronto chefs keep naming the same restaurant as one of their favourite places to eat, I pay attention. After eating there myself, I get the hype.
N.L. Ginzburg opened in Little Italy in 2025 from the team behind Dreyfus and Bernhardt’s, but it still feels slightly under the radar compared with some of Toronto’s harder-to-book restaurants.
The concept combines Italian trattoria cooking with flavours and traditions from the Jewish diaspora. As someone who grew up in Vaughan and went to school in Thornhill, that combination hits close to home.
The menu changes often, but you can expect handmade pasta, dishes cooked over charcoal, seasonal Ontario ingredients and baked goods like rugelach.
This is where I’d bring a food-obsessed visitor who wants something a little different from Toronto’s dining scene. It’s polished enough for a special night out, but still creative, personal and genuinely memorable.
N.L. Ginzburg Website
Cassius
Price: 💸💸💸
Cuisine: Contemporary Italian
Address: 624 King St W, Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: Cassius gets an automatic spot on my itinerary for one very important reason: it’s home to one of my favourite pasta dishes I’ve eaten in Toronto.
The King West restaurant opened in 2025 as a contemporary Italian spot and high-energy supper club, where dinner can easily roll into DJs and a much later night.
The menu covers handmade pasta, seafood, pizza and other Italian-inspired dishes, but personally, I’m coming back for the pasta.
What makes Cassius especially fun for an out-of-towner is that it gives you both sides of a Toronto night out in one place: a proper sit-down dinner, followed by the kind of lively, late-night energy King West is known for.
If I’m trying to impress someone who’s visiting the city, this is an easy pick.
Cassius Menu
St. Lawrence Market
Price: 💸💸
Cuisine: Food market
Address: 93 Front St. E., Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: Not every stop on my Toronto food tour needs to be new.
St. Lawrence Market has been part of the city in some form since 1803, so this is where I get to sneak a little Toronto history into the itinerary while also feeding you very well.
My strategy is simple: arrive hungry and wander.
First, I’m getting the chicken parm from Uno Mustachio, with a slice of fried eggplant added in for good measure. Then I’m stopping at St. Urbain Bagel for a craigel, and if you’ve never tried Toronto’s famous peameal bacon sandwich, we’re fixing that at Carousel Bakery.
St. Lawrence Market is one of those rare tourist attractions that actually earns its reputation. It’s historic, packed with local character and full of places I’d happily eat at even if I wasn’t showing someone around the city.
St. Lawrence Market Website
Dumpling House
Dishes from Dumpling House, Toronto.
Lauren DiBenedetto | Narcity
Price: 💸—💸💸
Cuisine: Chinese/dumplings
Address: 328 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: You can’t visit Toronto without eating your way through Chinatown.
And if I’m introducing someone to the neighbourhood, Dumpling House is exactly the kind of place I want: unfussy, busy and refreshingly untrendy.
The Spadina spot has been around since 2005 and is best known for its pan-fried dumplings, which arrive connected by a crispy, golden lace across the plate.
You can watch staff rolling, filling and pleating dumplings through the front window before squeezing into the tiny red dining room and ordering far more than you planned to.
This isn’t somewhere I’d bring you for picture-perfect interiors — we have plenty of those on this list. I’d bring you because eating a plate of crispy dumplings while the chaos of Spadina moves past outside feels like exactly the kind of big-city Toronto experience I’d want a visitor to have.
Dumpling House Menu
Badiali
Price: 💸
Cuisine: Pizza
Address: 181 Dovercourt Rd, Toronto, ON
Why You Need To Go: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Badiali makes my favourite slice in Toronto.
This is the one. No debate.
The crust is thin but still substantial enough to get that perfect little New York-style flop. It’s crispy without being cracker-like, greasy without feeling heavy and simple enough that even a plain cheese slice feels special.
But if you’re visiting, get the vodka slice. Obviously.
I’d probably add the cacio e pepe too, plus a dip on the side, because apparently I’m incapable of showing restraint after waiting in the inevitable Badiali lineup.
Toronto has become a genuinely great pizza city, and no single slice could ever represent all of it. But if you only give me time to take you to one pizzeria, I already know exactly where we’re going.
Pizzeria Badiali Website
Toronto has far too much good food for nine spots to even scratch the surface — but that’s kind of the point. Come for a weekend and I’ll start you with these nine. Stay longer and I’ll happily find you nine more.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
